237 Beacon Street

237 Beacon Street

237 Beacon Street was built ca. 1870 as the home of Nathaniel Silsbee, Jr., and his wife, Marianne (Devereux) Silsbee.  They had lived at 183 Beacon in 1869.  In about 1868, their son-in-law and daughter, Frederick and Mary (Silsbee) Whitwell, had built their home next door at 239 Beacon.

Nathaniel Silsbee is shown as the owner of 237 Beacon on the 1874 Hopkins map.  They also maintained a home in Milton.

Nathaniel Silsbee was a former shipping merchant in Salem.  He had served as a Member of Congress from Salem in 1833 and 1846.  In 1862, he was named treasurer of Harvard and he moved to Boston.

At the time of the 1880 US Census, Frederick and Mary Whitwell lived with the Silsbees at 237 Beacon while the Whitwells' new home at 230 Marlborough Street was under construction (the permit application for which was dated February 27, 1880).

Nathaniel Silsbee died in July of 1881 and Marianne Silsbee moved soon thereafter to 240 Marlborough Street.

By 1883, 237 Beacon was the home of Francis Amasa Walker and his wife, Exene Eveline (Stoughton) Walker. He is shown as the owner on the 1883 and 1888 Bromley maps.

Francis Walker was president of MIT.  He served from 1861 to 1865 in the Union Army, retiring with the brevet rank of Brigadier General.  He was a noted economist and statistician. He served as Superintendent of the 1870 US Census, after which he was a professor of political economy at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale and a lecturer at Harvard.  He once again served as Superintendent of the US Census in 1880, after which he was appointed president of MIT.

Francis Walker died in January of 1897.  Exene Walker continued to live at 237 Beacon in 1898.

The house was not listed in the 1899 Blue Book.

By 1900, it was the home of Richard Hathaway Morgan, a retired manufacturer from New Bedford, and his wife, Joanna White (Davis) Morgan.  They also maintained a residence in Plymouth.

By 1903, 237 Beacon was owned and occupied by Phi Beta Epsilon, an MIT fraternity.  It is shown as the owner on the 1908 Bromley map.  The fraternity continued to occupy the house in 1915.

The house was not listed in the 1917 Blue Book, but the fraternity continued to be shown as the owner on the 1917 Bromley map.

By 1922, it was the home of  Miss Emma G. Marcotte and her mother, Emilie Marcotte, the widow of Leon Marcotte.  They previously had lived at 289 Newbury Street.  Emma Marcotte is shown as the owner on the 1928 and 1938 Bromley maps.

Miss Marcotte operated a lodging house at 237 Beacon and in June of 1928, she was cited for failing to provide adequate egress.  In July of 1929, she applied for (and subsequently received) permission to remodel the interior to comply with the egress requirements.

She continued to live at 237 Beacon in 1947.

By 1949, 237 Beacon was the home of William Stearns and George E. Gorman.  It probably continued to be a lodging house.  William Stearns continued to live there in 1953.